I Wanna Be the Very Best
by KittyZozo3366
Summary: Lightning Dust, just kicked out of Wonderbolt Academy, is down on her luck. But when she meets a mysterious game character who has gone through her same trials and then some, she takes heed to his advice. One-shot based on the new episode.


(Author's Note: This piece contains huge-I repeat, **_HUGE WITH A CAPITAL H HUGE_**spoilers for the movie Wreck-It Ralph. I...have decided on something with the character of Lightning Dust that I would like to share with you. Again, if you have not seen the movie of Wreck-It Ralph, do not read this story. It will spoil so much for you.)

Lightning Dust was in a rut. After her loss at the Wonderbolt Academy, she had little money left to get back home. She decided that maybe a road trip would refresh her mind and get her back on track of what was important: Winning. She decided to stop in a small town not too far from Manehattan before she came to there. Her real home was Las Pegasus, but she had relatives there. While she ate a sandwich she got from a vendor, she noticed a small arcade. She remembered the arcades she used to play in as a filly, and she knew she had a few bit coins to...play a few rounds. She walked passed the sign that flashed _Litwak's, _the _i _and _'s_ flickering.

She looked around for a game that was decent, and noticed the _Turbo Time _console. Ah, she remembered those days. She used to play the Turbo console all the time back home, and the main character is who convinced her to be the best at all she did. Turbo seemed like he'd do anything to win, and she took that to heart. She would do anything to be a Wonderbolt, which made her wonder, _Did Turbo ever lose it all? What did he do? _She played one round, and when she took out another bit coin, it slipped from her hooves. She got on the ground to pick it up, but she noticed something scrawled on the side of the console. She read it out:

_To unleash ultimate power: Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, power-up, accelerate, start_

She smirked; she could use some ultimate power right now. She inserted the quarter and punched the buttons and moved the joystick quickly. Suddenly, the screen lit up with a bright, blinding light. She backed away, covering her eyes from the light, and heard Turbo's signature phrase, _Turbo-tastic! _and a dull _thud. _She opened her eyes and saw a grey earth pony, his eyes and teeth yellow. His helmet and jacket were white, save for the red accents and _T_ on his helmet. She gasped, "You're Turbo!"

"Hi, sweetie," the grey stallion greeted. "So...you used that Tobokomi code." She nodded, and he chuckled, "No one's used that baby since my original game." Lightning Dust asked, "You mean, that's not your console?" He shook his head.

"Never was. You might not understand, kid, but I'm from an older cabinet than this one. Took 'em nearly 25 years to get a new one after my old one was shut down."

"But...what did you do to get your old one shut down? And where have you been all those years?"

"Shut your yap, and I'll tell ya. Thirty years ago, I was the hottest game around. I was a winner, had glorious trophies, proud admirers...the players weren't bad either. Then...they got a game to replace me. _Roadblasters." _He scoffed. "To think, I would get unplugged!" He then gave a yellow-toothed grin. "But I wouldn't let that happen. About twenty-five years ago, I decided to do a thing called game-jumping. You go over to another person's game; very business-like. And I..." He gave a wince. "Might have crashed it. Both my game an' the new one were unplugged. But I got out of it alive...and decided to do a little research.

"I went into manipulating pure, raw, code. When the arcade was closed, I'd get some tips from Tapper's; I had always had a shady little table at Tapper's." He pointed a hoof to the _Tapper's _game cabinet. "Owner was the only one I could trust. He even told me the code to get to the vaults; you pick up things when you're the owner of a shady little pub. Nopony took a licking of notice of me. Nopony did...until one day, I had a date with destiny." He pointed to the_ Sugar Rush _gaming console. "You see that game? Been around for 15 years. I've heard about it for 12. I met a little assistant to the _princess._" He sneered at the icon in the middle of the screen.

"Anyway, I overheard from the assistant of a glitch inside the game. After that, he and I became very good 'friends.'" Lightning Dust smiled. She remembered her 'friend', RD, but then she remembered how she betrayed her. She wasn't hesitant to ask in a spiteful tone, "Did he betray you in the end?"

"Oh, he wouldn't...little sour ball knew too much, and he knew what'd I do to him if he fessed up. I decided to give this glitch a look-see...and add my own personal touch to it. I found out this glitch was an incomplete character, named 'King Candy.' Now I knew to be the best racer ever, I had to be king of all others. Using my expert coding skills, I hacked into the game, and fused myself with the king. It wasn't until too late the princess' assistant realized I had gotten in." He let out a hideous cackle. "He just had to help me out then. He helped me tear out the princess' code strings one by one, 'til nothing was left but a glitch. Then, I took away the racer's and his memories, so they'd never know a princess even ruled."

"But...you're not a king now." She frowned. Something wasn't adding up. "You're just plain Turbo."

"Yeah, some guy from another game decided to game-jump." He pointed to the _Fix-It Felix _cabinet just as a hulking red pony appeared on the screen. "That guy, to be percise. He helped out the little glitch, and now...there's just me. They got a new _Turbo Time _cabinet, and I convinced the Turbo-yes, there's two of us- to switch out with me every once and a while. Now, I have my adoring fans back." She smiled, and laughed, "So, you did your very best, and...and you won?" Her expression changed from joking to serious and sad. "Not like me. I was stipped of being a great flyer." The grey pony put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Look, kid. I saw the fire in your eyes as you played the console. You were smokin'! Those twins looked pathetic compared to me. Look, the code will only allow me a little bit of time out here, so let me say this now. If you are the best, you'll be like me. Never give up; even take risks if need be. Who cares what other ponies say?! I know you've got what it takes to be..._Turbo-tastic!_" With those words, the bright light appeared again. Turbo groaned, "Ah, crud," and was sent back to his game.

Lightning Dust wasn't sure what had just happened, but she felt something in her hoof as she left the arcade. She saw a gold bit coin, but it was...different. The center was hollowed out, in the shape of a crown. _A parting gift from him, _she thought. She put the bit piece close to her heart and said to herself, "I will never give up, no matter what the costs. Who cares what other ponies say?! I'm willing to push my limits past those snotty slowpokes if need be." There were words uttered in that arcade by many a character that would describe her, but I would use the most frequent ones. She was going to do it; she was going to _go Turbo._


End file.
